"For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to limit the quantity of toxic metals that coal-fired U.S. power plants release into waterways."

"Seattle -- Fisheries managers announced Tuesday that they would enhance but not significantly alter the government's current strategy for saving salmon from extinction in the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, drawing criticism from conservationists."

"This year, the Heinz Awards divided $1 million in prize money to 10 people who had done exemplary work in protecting the environment. They included Grist founder Chip Giller, happy-food guru Joel Salatin, and Stanford professor Christopher Field, among others."

"The Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday that it would spend $43 million on economic development projects in Roane County, Tenn., the site of a huge coal ash spill at one of the authority’s power plants last December."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- In a ruling with national implications for public lands, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today overturned the federal government's approval of a land exchange with mining giant Asarco, Inc."

Furniture stores and architectural firms get a lot of samples – of fabric, tiles, and carpet. Those samples can pile up. Usually, they get thrown in the trash. But, in some cities, they are starting to make unused design samples available to artists and art teachers. The Environment Report's Julie Grant has more.

"Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become."

"A coalition of environmental groups says U.S. EPA is 26 years tardy in limiting toxic metal discharges from coal-fired power plants and is threatening to sue the agency if it does produce the rules."

"Interior Secretary Ken Salazar launched the Obama administration's first coordinated response to the impacts of climate change Monday, which he said would both monitor how global warming is altering the nation's landscape and help the country cope with those changes."

A bill to allow offshore oil leasing and a bill to ban BPA in baby bottles both died in the California legislature as it adjourned.

"Drug-resistant staph bacteria have been found on public beaches in Washington state, and beaches in other states may harbor the superbug too."

As governments tighten their belts, it's getting harder for them to pay scientists to monitor the health of the nation's ecosystems. So increasingly, they're turning to citizens who do that kind of work for free. The Environment Report's Ann Dornfeld reports on the growing influence of these "citizen scientists".

"In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses. However, the vast majority of those polluters have escaped punishment."

This week, California state parks officials are expected to release a list of up to 100 California parks that will be closed to save money, and the impacts will be felt far and wide.

After he finishes health legislation, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus will stake a claim of jurisdiction on the climate bill.